


By the Forgefire

by Tassos



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/pseuds/Tassos
Summary: Aloy brings Petra a rare gift from a hunt. Petra offers Aloy another rare gift in return.
Relationships: Aloy/Petra Forgewoman
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	By the Forgefire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anneapocalypse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneapocalypse/gifts).



"Well, if it isn't Aloy Machine Hunter back from the wild!" Petra's boisterous voice called down from Free Heap's wall.

Aloy raised a hand to block the late afternoon sun from shining into her eyes and waved when she made out Petra's backlit silhouette. 

"I've got something for you!" she called back, a pleased grin crossing her face. She'd been giddy since she realized what she had, warmed by a bubble of anticipation for the look on Petra's face on the way to the small settlement.

"Presents!" Petra shouted back with enthusiasm to spare, heading for the stairs.

Aloy pulled her strider to a stop just outside the gate and easily slid to the ground. She gave herself a moment to stretch her legs after the long ride. She was hot and sweaty from the sun, and sore from her hunt which had taken most of the previous day and half the night. Leaning against the strider for a moment, she felt some of her tension ease away.

"All right, Flame Hair," Petra clapped her hands together, as Aloy led the strider into the courtyard, towing its cargo on the tarp behind it. Quickly undoing the rope and shaking off sand, Aloy unveiled her find with a flourish.

Petra's face didn't disappoint.

"Aloy!" she breathed, awe morphing into glee. She blinked up at Aloy like she couldn't believe her eyes. "It's not—"

"It is." Aloy's grin burst forth again, happy to make Petra so happy. "Rockbreaker digging claw. Fully intact. No damage that I could find other than sand scouring."

Petra punched Aloy in the arm, Aloy staggered a little, shifting her feet, while Petra cackled and went over to inspect the claw with a professional eye. When she glanced up, her sharp smile radiated pure joy. "You bring in the best scrap, forge and flame. How did you manage it?"

Aloy felt her cheeks heat up a little at the praise, shrugging off the wiggling worms in her belly that made her both want to squirm and duck her head but also bask in a job well done. Being around Petra was often like that. Her no-nonsense attitude was to the point and always honest, so you know she meant it when she said you did good.

"Patience and a lot of well-placed arrows," Aloy said. 

"Uh huh." Petra wasn't buying her nonchalance, and that felt good too. "So how much you want for it?" 

"For you, dinner and a resupply?"

"Aloy, please. For a rockbreaker claw you've earned at least a thousand shards on top of dinner and a resupply. Stay the night, too. Fire and forge, stay as long as you want. You bring me so much good scrap you're practically an Oseram scavenger."

Aloy huffed a little. "I'm hardly that," she said, pleased despite her protest. 

"Whatever you say, Flame Hair, but I'm right and everyone knows it."

"You always say you're right," Aloy replied.

"That's 'cause I am. Now let's get this squared away and grab some grub. This calls for a drink!"

They'd drawn a small excited crowd and it didn't take long for Petra to corral her people and get the claw put away in one of the steel storage sheds for the night. Aloy got another dozen congratulations on the hunt and prize, and was a little surprised how many of Free Heap's people she was beginning to recognize by name as well as face. 

They knew her as well, and not just for her fame in stopping the Shadow Carja. Beladga asked if she still collected ancient artifacts, and if she'd found anything interesting lately. Kaeluf wanted to see the upgrades to her spear since she'd last been at Free Heap when he'd helped her rebalance it after a longleg had taken a bite of it. 

It was nice to be welcomed as one of their own, a warm feeling of almost but not quite belonging that was one reason Aloy looked for excuses to come back to Free Heap whenever she could. 

She glanced over at the tables set up around the fire when Petra called her name. Petra stood on a bench to see over the heads of those nearby. "What are you waiting for? Snow to show up?" she shouted, beckoning Aloy over. "This scrappersap won't drink itself!"

Aloy smiled and headed over. She wouldn't say it out loud, but the real reason she kept coming back so often was the way Petra waved her over, the way her head tilted when she laughed. Aloy just wanted to be near her and bask in her presence, soak it up like a winter flower yearning for light.

"What are you going to do with the digging claw?" Aloy asked once they were settled with boar shanks and moonshine. Aloy drank hers watered down, and the boar was tough but well-seasoned.

Petra sat across from her, eating her boar sliced into strips and wrapped into a tortilla.

"Scrap for one. We can always use more power to plow through the heap, especially to get through a fused layer," she said, nodding toward the canyon. "We've also been thinking of digging a ditch outside the walls. Make a rampart so we can expand the settlement. Maybe link up with the old bandit camp again with some better defenses. We've got more people now that the war's done. We could even set up a spot for you."

"Me?" Aloy said, surprised. "You'd let me move in just like that?" The Nora part of her would not believe it could be that easy. The Seeker part of her wasn't sure she'd ever be able to settle down in one spot. 

"Of course, just like that," Petra said, with that slow half-smile of hers that meant she was feeling right about something. "You got sand in your ears? I keep telling you, you'll always have a place here. Doesn't that king of yours tell you the same thing?" 

"Yeah, I guess," Aloy said, flustered. The feeling that the moment she tried to stay in one spot someone would throw a rock at her wasn't easy to shake though. Anyway, Avad and Telanah back in Meridian both knew she wasn't there to stay for good, even though they were as welcoming at Petra. 

"Well, when we get to expanding, you'll have a place of your own." Petra nodded as if it was decided. "You don't have to stay here all the time. I know you. You've got wandering in your legs yet. But you have a home here when you need a rest."

Without warning, and quite without her wanting to, Aloy's throat closed up with a knot of emotion that had her batting her eyelashes to keep tears from leaking out. She ducked her head, but Petra saw anyway and her eyes were kind, her smile crooked, as she reached out and patted Aloy's hand.

"Don't get watery on me, Flame Hair. Drink up and we both can pretend it's from the scrappersap."

That startled Aloy into laughing, and then Petra was asking about the news from Meridian and whether the Great Elevator repairs were going well, and they chatted companionably over the rest of their dinner.

When the sun went down and the last of the light faded from the desert, nighttime chill settling over them, Petra drained the last of her scrappersap and set her mug down with a thud. 

"Well, I've got an early date with that rockbreaker claw in the morning. The bunkhouse is crowded so you can stay with me if you don't want to squeeze in there." 

Aloy returned Petra's frank look, her offer sitting differently between them after their talk of having a place in Free Heap of her own. Inviting Aloy into her room meant more than giving a guest shelter for the night. It was an act of trust, and Aloy was honored, that swell of emotion from earlier threatening to overwhelm her again.

"If you're sure. I can sleep on the floor," she said, rising from the table when Petra did. A moan escaped as her sore muscles protested the change in position.

"It's no trouble," Petra said, giving her the side-eye. "What's got you shuffling like an old lady? You're too young for aches and pains."

"You try spending all day wearing down a giant machine while it flings rocks at you and then dragging its carcass back here."

"Pretty sure it was that strider of yours doing the dragging," Petra retorted, teasing. "Come on, I've got some salve that should help. Works on burns and helps with muscles, too."

"I'll be all right," said Aloy. "All I need is a good night's sleep and I'll be fine. You don't need to worry." 

"Who said I'm worried?" Petra shook her head, adding with some exasperation, "I'm just trying to help you out. You don't have to suffer on your own, Flame Hair. Let me take care of you tonight, will you?"

Aloy swallowed down her discomfort — she was usually the one taking care of others and she didn't quite know what to do with being on this side of it. But Petra was as stubborn as she always claimed Aloy was, and she didn't give Aloy another chance to protest once they were back in her room.

As Aloy peeled off her armor and lay face down on Petra's bed, she wondered if this was what it would be like if she had a home in Free Heap. Not in Petra's room, obviously, but having Petra boss her around until Aloy let her take care of her. If it would always feel so hard to let down her defenses.

Petra found the salve and pushed Aloy's shirt up until it was bunched up around her shoulders. Her hands were cool against her back as she rubbed in the salve and gently massaged Aloy's back. Fingers strengthened from the grip of a hammer, slowly worked the knots out of her back, and Aloy had to bite her lip against another moan, against another surge of emotion of being laid so bare. 

All of Petra's attention was focused on her, soothing her, welcoming her. It was too much to think about, too much to feel, so Aloy tried not to. She tried to keep her mind blank and let go of the worry that she was dreaming.

She could have this, maybe. Have a place to rest and a woman she admired take care of her for a night. 

Aloy had slipped into a light doze by the time Petra smoothed her hands down her back one last time and tugged her shirt back down. Aloy felt Petra's weight shift from the back of her legs to her side, and tilted her head to meet her gaze. For a moment she just stared into Petra's eyes, dark in the low lamplight. When at last she tried to move, get herself out of the way, Petra lay her arm across Aloy's back and pulled herself closer until their sides pressed together in a side hug. 

"I can sleep on the floor," Aloy said.

"Stay," Petra shook her head a little. "I meant it when I said you have a home here. Even if it's one you need to leave and come back to." 

She brushed a braid back from Aloy's face, the gesture so tender that Aloy had to close her eyes against the swell of emotion that hadn't quite gone away.

"No one's just offered me a home like this before," Aloy finally said. She opened her eyes to find Petra smiling crookedly at her. She was dusty and her hair flopped in her eyes, but she was beautiful.

"Not even your king?"

"He doesn't count," Aloy huffed. "Meridian's too crowed anyway."

"Then say yes." Petra's fingers hadn't left her face, resting lightly on Aloy's cheek. "Say I'll get to see you more often than once in a blue moon."

Her fingers brushed her cheek and into Aloy's hair, and then between one breath and the next, Petra was leaning in to kiss her. 

Her lips were dry and soft, and Aloy inhaled and drew her closer, her own arms wrapping around Petra. Like a stirred up river tumbling into a calm lake, a question Aloy hadn't even known she had was answered, the flutter in her belly settled into a new understanding that home wasn't the only the Petra was offering. And yet it was one and the same. 

When the kiss ended, Aloy pulled back, her heart beating quickly and wonder suffusing her chest. The knot of emotion unraveled into a thread, a cable spooling out between them. Petra's smile a tether on the other end.

"What do you say?" she asked.

Aloy smiled, feeling happy down to her toes. "Yes."


End file.
